JP2001024692A - Electronic mail delivery device and recording medium storing program for controlling electronic mail delivery - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the repeated transmission of electronic(E) mails of the same contents by delivering only one received B mail to a repeated transmission destination mail address, when a decision part detects the repetition of the E mails and executing processing for informing of the repetition information. SOLUTION: A broadcast communication control part 19 inspects the repetition of transmission destination mail addresses, and at the time as detection of the repetition, executes processing so as not to repeatedly deliver E mails. At this time, the control part 19 refers to a broadcast transmission destination list storing part 13. The control part 19 executes processing for informing a transmitter or a receiver or both of them of information concerned with the repetition of the transmission destination mail address. A mail delivery part 21 stores the E mail prepared by the control part 19 in a mail box for the transmitted destination mail address.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to an electronic mail system,
More specifically, the present invention relates to control of broadcast transmission in an electronic mail system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of a LAN (Local Area Network) and the Internet, electronic mail (hereinafter, also simply referred to as mail) has been frequently used as a means for transmitting information within a company or between companies. In the case of e-mail, it is possible to specify a plurality of e-mail addresses and broadcast the e-mail. Further, a mailing list (more generally, a broadcast transmission destination list) in which a plurality of mail addresses are registered in advance can be designated as a mail address. When an e-mail is broadcast to many people using this mailing list or the like, duplicate designation of the e-mail address may occur.

Conventionally, much attention has not been paid to the duplicate designation of the mail address. That is,
When the mail sender broadcasts the e-mail, the mail server sends the e-mail specified in the e-mail.
Often, they were sent without checking for duplicate addresses. As a result, a certain mail recipient receives two or more mails having the same content, and the recipient has to open those mails to check the content, which makes the operation complicated. In addition, the mail box of the mail receiver in the mail server and the disk resources in the client terminal used by the mail receiver are wasted. In addition, sending unnecessary mail results in a meaningless increase in network traffic.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-283834 discloses that a transmission content having elements of transmission information such as a sender and a destination and content information of a message or a transmission document is transmitted to a mail address designated as a transmission destination. An electronic mail system, comprising: transmission form registration means for holding form information of transmission contents represented by a combination of the elements; and selecting and designating form information of an e-mail to be transmitted for each destination mail address. There is disclosed an apparatus including a transmission mode designation unit and a mail generation unit for generating a transmission mail of the transmission content from the format information designated for each mail address. In this publication, an e-mail address is analyzed, and when the same recipient is described in duplicate, the appropriate form information is determined by comparing the form information of the transmission contents specified in each e-mail address. It is also disclosed that a morphological arrangement means is further provided to prevent extra information from being transmitted to the recipient even if the recipient's e-mail address is duplicated in the address. However, in many cases, the form of the transmission content represented by the combination of elements does not need to be changed according to the transmission destination, and the technique disclosed in this publication is too complicated. In addition, the receiver is not notified of the information on the duplication of the destination mail address. The sender may be notified that there is an overlap as shown in FIG. 21 of this publication, but this is because the sender is required to specify an appropriate transmission form based on the original purpose of this publication. Oh, mail
Notification is required before the server sends the e-mail.
That is, the notification and the transmission of the e-mail by the mail server must be performed in this order. In this case, a complicated process is imposed on the sender after being restricted in terms of time.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to prevent duplicate transmission of e-mails having the same contents caused by designation of duplicated e-mail addresses in broadcast transmission of e-mails, An object of the present invention is to provide a device for notifying a mail receiver and / or a mail sender of information on duplication of an electronic mail when a duplication is designated.

Further, in the broadcast transmission of an e-mail, duplicate transmission of e-mails having the same contents caused by duplicate designation of an e-mail address is prevented. Another object of the present invention is to provide a program for notifying a mail sender or both of them of information on duplication of the electronic mail.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic mail distribution apparatus, wherein a broadcast transmission destination list name is specified as a transmission destination mail address. Means for judging whether the destination mail address including the mail address registered in the received e-mail is duplicated in one received e-mail, and when the judgment means detects the duplication, the duplicated destination mail And processing means for distributing only one received e-mail to the address and notifying information on the duplication. As a result, a recipient whose own e-mail address is duplicated in an e-mail can know the existence of the deleted e-mail.

[0008] It is also possible to configure the above-described processing means so as to add information regarding duplication to the received electronic mail. In particular, it can be added to the header of the received e-mail.

An electronic mail distribution device according to a second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, when a broadcast destination list name is specified as a destination mail address, a mail registered in the broadcast destination list・ Destination mail including address
Determining means for determining whether the address is duplicated in one received e-mail; and when the determining means detects duplication, only one received e-mail is delivered to the duplicated destination mail address and the received e-mail is received. Processing means for performing processing for notifying the sender of the mail of the information on the duplication. As a result, the destination mail
The sender who has designated the address duplication can receive the notification including the information on the duplication without complicated processing.

[0010] The processing means in the first and second aspects of the present invention may be configured to perform processing for notifying information on duplication only when a notification is specified.

[0011] Further, the above-mentioned information on duplication may include information on a duplicated destination mail address not used for distribution of the received electronic mail. As will be described in the following embodiments, for example, it is conceivable to include the name of a broadcast transmission destination list in which duplicate transmission destination mail addresses are registered.

The above-described electronic mail distribution device is
It can be implemented as a combination of a computer and a program. At this time, the program according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the broadcast destination list name is specified as the destination mail address, changes the mail address registered in the broadcast destination list. Include destination emails
When the address is duplicated in one received e-mail, the computer is caused to execute a process for distributing only one received e-mail to the duplicated destination mail address and notifying information about the duplication. Further, the program according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the broadcast destination list is specified as the destination mail address, transmits the program including the mail address registered in the broadcast destination list. When the destination mail address is duplicated in one received e-mail, a process for delivering only one received e-mail to the duplicate destination e-mail address and notifying the source of the received e-mail of the information about the duplication On a computer. Usually, the program is M
It is stored in a recording medium such as an O disk, a CD-ROM or a floppy disk, or a storage device such as a hard disk or a memory.

[0013]

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system according to the present invention. Here, user terminals 3 to 9 are connected to the mail server 1. Here, the user A of the user terminal 3 is the sender of the e-mail, and the user B of the user terminal 5, the user C of the user terminal 7, and the user terminal 9
Here, the user D is an e-mail recipient. The mail server 1 includes a broadcast destination list storage unit 13 and a mail transmission / reception processing unit 15. The mail transmission / reception processing unit 15 includes a mail reception unit 17, a broadcast transmission control unit 19 which is a main part of the present invention, and a mail delivery unit 21.
The broadcast transmission destination list storage unit 13 stores a pair of each broadcast transmission destination list and a mail address registered therein.

In the system as shown in FIG. 1, a process for broadcasting an electronic mail from the user A of the user terminal 3 to the users B, C and D of the user terminals 5 to 9 will be described. The user A operates the user terminal 3 and
E-mail addresses of the users B, C, and D are specified as destinations, or the broadcast destinations stored in the broadcast destination list storage unit 13 and in which the users B, C, and D are registered Create an e-mail by specifying the list name as the destination. Then, in response to the command from the user A, the user terminal 3 sends the created e-mail to the mail server 1.
Send to In the mail server 1, the mail receiving unit 17 in the mail transmission / reception processing unit 15 receives the electronic mail. The mail receiving unit 17 outputs the received electronic mail to the broadcast transmission control unit 19. Since the mail receiving unit 17 is the same as the conventional technology, it will not be described any further. Broadcast transmission control unit 1
In step 9, which will be described in detail later, a check is made to determine whether or not the transmission destination e-mail address is duplicated. I do. At this time, the broadcast transmission control unit 1
9 refers to the broadcast transmission destination list storage unit 13. Also,
The broadcast transmission control unit 19 sends the destination mail
A process for notifying the sender and / or the receiver of the information regarding the address duplication is performed. The mail delivery unit 21 puts the e-mail prepared by the broadcast transmission control unit 19 in the mail box of the destination mail address here. If the destination e-mail address is not in charge of the mail server 1, the e-mail is transmitted to another mail server in charge of the destination e-mail address. The mail delivery unit of the other mail server that received the e-mail also sends the mail of the corresponding destination mail address.
Put your email in the box. Then, the user takes in the mail from the mailbox to his terminal. In this way, an e-mail addressed to the user is transmitted to each user terminal in response to a command or the like from the user terminals 5 to 9. The mail delivery unit 21 is the same as the prior art and will not be described further. When the destination of the e-mail created by the user A is duplicated, the information about the duplication is also notified to the user A as necessary. This notification is, for example, an electronic mail, and is transmitted to the user terminal 3 by the mail delivery unit 21. Since transmission is performed as needed, a dotted arrow is used between the mail delivery unit 21 and the user terminal 3 in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the broadcast transmission control unit 19 which is a main part of the present invention. The broadcast transmission control unit 19 includes a broadcast transmission destination reading unit 31 and a broadcast transmission destination list developing unit 3
3, destination information sorting unit 35, destination information merging unit 3
7, a duplication information notification processing unit 39 to the receiver, a duplication information notification processing unit 41 to the sender, and a transfer unit 43 are included. The broadcast destination reading unit 31 uses the output of the mail receiving unit 17 shown in FIG. The broadcast destination list developing unit 33 stores the output of the broadcast destination reading unit 31 and the broadcast destination list storage unit 13.
Use the contents of Also, the broadcast destination list developing unit 33
Creates a destination expansion table that stores a set of a destination address and a broadcast destination list name in which the destination address is registered. This destination expansion table is stored in the storage device of the mail server 1. The destination information merging unit 37 uses the output of the destination information sorting unit 35. The recipient-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 39 and the sender-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 41 use the output of the destination information merge unit 37. The recipient-addressed duplicate information notification processing unit 39 manages a buffer for storing an electronic mail to the designated destination mail address, and the sender-addressed duplicate information notification processing unit 4
Reference numeral 1 manages a notification mail creation buffer for storing information to be notified to the transmission source. These buffers are provided in the storage device of the mail server 1. The transfer unit 43 outputs the outputs from the recipient-addressed duplicate information notification processing unit 39 and the sender-addressed duplicate information notification processing unit 41 to the mail delivery unit 21 illustrated in FIG.

Next, the operation of each component of the broadcast transmission control unit 19 shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the broadcast destination reading unit 31 reads the broadcast destination of the e-mail received from the mail receiving unit 17 (FIG. 3: step 103). Then, the read broadcast destination is output to the broadcast destination list developing unit 33. The broadcast transmission destination list developing unit 33 determines whether the broadcast transmission destination includes a broadcast transmission destination list, and if so, extracts the broadcast transmission destination list (step 105). Then, by referring to the broadcast destination list storage unit 13, the mail address registered in the obtained broadcast destination list is replaced with the broadcast destination list name (hereinafter, the broadcast destination list) containing the mail address. (Referred to as information transmission group information or group information) to create a transmission destination expansion table (step 107). For example, FIG.
As in (1), when the broadcast transmission list name group 1 and group 2 are specified as the destination mail addresses, the mail addresses registered in each of the group 1 and group 2 are changed to the broadcast destination. Obtained from the list storage unit 13. In this example, group1 has user01 @ host
1.fujitsu.co.jp, user02@host1.fujitsu.co.jp, user0
3@host1.fujitsu.co.jp, user04@host1.fujitsu.co.j
p, user05@host1.fujitsu.co.jp, and group2 contains user03@host1.fujitsu.co.jp, user11 @ host
1.fujitsu.co.jp, user12@host1.fujitsu.co.jp, user1
3@host1.fujitsu.co.jp, user05@host1.fujitsu.co.jp
To get these. Then, the destination address and the broadcast transmission list name, that is, the broadcast transmission group information are stored as a set in the destination expansion table. In FIG. 4A, duplicate mail addresses are included in the groups 1 and 2 for the sake of explanation, and the mail addresses are underlined. The broadcast destination list expanding unit 33 outputs the destination expanding table to the destination information sorting unit 35.

The destination information sorting section 35 sorts the destination addresses in the destination expansion table (step 10).
9). FIG. 4 (2) shows a destination expansion table after expanding and sorting the broadcast destination list as shown in FIG. 4 (1). The left column of the transmission expansion table shows the transmission destination addresses, and the right column shows the broadcast transmission group information (or called group information). The first line of this destination expansion table is user01@host1.fujits which is destination information
u.co.jp and group 1 and line 2 are use
r01@host1.fujitsu.co.jp and group 2 and the third line are user02@host1.fujitsu.co.jp and group 1 which are destination information, and the fourth line is user03@host1.fujits which is destination information
u.co.jp and group 1 and line 5 are destination information
r04@host1.fujitsu.co.jp and group 1, line 6 is destination information user05@host1.fujitsu.co.jp and group 1, line 7 is destination information user05@host1.fujits
u.co.jp and group 2, line 8 is use
r11@host1.fujitsu.co.jp and group 2, line 9 is destination information user12@host1.fujitsu.co.jp and group 2, line 10 is destination information user13@host1.fujit
su.co.jp and group 2 are stored. In FIG. 4 (2), user01@host1.fujitsu.co.jp and user05@host1.fuj
It shows that itsu.co.jp is duplicated. The destination information sorting unit 35 outputs the destination expansion table after the sorting to the destination information merging unit 37.

The destination information merging unit 37 merges the same consecutive destination addresses into one destination information (step 111). That is, when the destination expansion table is received, it is checked whether or not there is a continuous same destination address therein. Then, if there are consecutive identical destination addresses, only the first destination information is left and the other destination information is deleted. Then, the broadcast group information of the deleted destination information is added to the broadcast group information of the remaining destination information. In the example of FIG. 4B, the first line and the second line have the same destination address us.
Since er01@host1.fujitsu.co.jp is included, the destination information on the second line is deleted. However, group 2 which is the broadcast transmission group information on the second row is added to the broadcast transmission group information on the first row. Similarly, the sixth and seventh lines have the same destination address user05@host1.fujitsu.co.
Since jp is included, the transmission destination information on the seventh line is deleted. However, the group 2 which is the broadcast transmission group information on the seventh line is added to the broadcast transmission group information on the sixth line. When such processing is performed, FIG. 4 (2) becomes FIG. 4 (3)
Is converted as follows. Note that the lines merged in step 111 are underlined. The broadcast transmission group information from the deleted transmission destination information is shown in parentheses []. Based on the broadcast group information not enclosed in parentheses, that is, in FIG. 4 (3), the electronic mail is transmitted to the transmission destination address based on the designation of group 1. The transmission destination information merger 37 outputs the transmission destination expansion table after the merge processing to the receiver-directed duplication information notification processor 39 and the sender-directed duplication information notification processor 41.

If the information on the duplication of the destination address is not added to the e-mail from the sender, the receiver-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 39 does nothing. The processing in FIG. 3 proceeds from step 113 to step 117. On the other hand, when adding the information regarding the duplication of the destination address to the e-mail from the sender, the processing shifts from step 113 to step 115, and the duplication information notification processing unit 3
9 performs the processing (step 115). The processing of the recipient-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 39 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

If the sender is not notified of the information on the duplication of the destination address, the sender-directed duplication information notification processing unit 41 does nothing. The processing in FIG.
Then, the process proceeds to step 121. If the sender is to be notified of the information on duplication of the destination address, the process proceeds from step 117 to step 119, where the sender-directed duplication information notification processing unit 41 performs processing (step 119).
The processing of the sender-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 39 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, step 119 is to be performed after step 115. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the receiver-directed duplication information notification processing unit 39 and the sender-destination duplication information notification processing unit 41 perform parallel processing. Processing is possible, and step 115 and step 119 may be performed in parallel. The e-mail created by the processing of the recipient-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 39 and the sender-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 41 is output to the mail delivery unit 21 shown in FIG. In the case where the duplication information notifying process for the recipient (step 115) is not performed, the e-mail is transferred to the transfer unit 43 so that the e-mail from the sender is transmitted to each destination address in the destination expansion table. To the mail delivery unit 21.

Referring to FIG. 5, a detailed processing flow of the receiver-addressed duplicate information notification processing section 39 will be described. First, one piece of unprocessed destination information is extracted from the destination expansion table (step 133). Then, by referring to the broadcast transmission group information of the extracted transmission destination information, it is determined whether the transmission destination address of the transmission destination information belongs to a plurality of groups, that is, the plurality of groups are included in the broadcast transmission group information. It is determined whether or not it is (step 135). If the destination address does not belong to a plurality of groups, the mail from the sender (also referred to as the original mail) is sent to the buffer managed by the recipient-addressed duplicate information notification processing unit 39 as the mail to be sent. It accumulates (step 145). Then, the process proceeds to step 147 to process the next destination information. On the other hand, when the transmission destination address belongs to a plurality of groups, the broadcast transmission group information of the transmission destination information is extracted (step 137), and the first group (group information) in the transmission destination group information is set as the effective group information, Header information is created using other groups as overlapping group information (step 139). Note that the header information is temporarily stored in the storage device of the mail server 1. The created header information is added to the header of the original mail (step 141). Then, the mail to which the header information has been added is stored in the buffer as mail addressed to the destination address (step 143). The mail to which the header information has been added will be described later with reference to FIG. This step 13
The processes from 3 to 145 are performed until all the destination information in the destination expansion table is processed (step 147).

Thereafter, the determination at step 113 (FIG. 3) as to whether or not to perform the recipient-addressed duplicate information notification process is based on whether or not the information "duplicate notification: required" exists in the header of the original mail. If so, the "duplicate notification: required" information attached by the sender is deleted from all the mails in the buffer (step 149). When the broadcast transmission control unit 19 in FIG. 1 sets whether or not to notify the receiver of the information about the overlap when the destination address is duplicated, the original mail is not used. It is not necessary to attach a header to the original mail. If no header is added to the original mail, step 149 is not performed. This ends the receiver-addressed duplicate information notification processing.

Next, a detailed processing flow of the sender-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 41 will be described with reference to FIG. First, one unprocessed destination information is extracted from the destination expansion table (step 163). Then, by referring to the broadcast group information of the extracted destination information, it is determined whether the destination address belongs to a plurality of groups, that is, whether the broadcast group information includes a plurality of groups (step 165). If the destination address does not belong to a plurality of groups, the process proceeds to step 171 to process the next destination information. If the destination address belongs to a plurality of groups, the broadcast destination group information is extracted, and the sender-addressed duplicate information notification processing unit 4
The transmission destination address, the effective group information (the first group information in the broadcast transmission group information), and the duplicate group information (the group information other than the first group information) are added to the notification mail creation buffer managed by the server 1 (step 169). The processes of steps 163 to 169 are repeated until all the destination information is processed (step 171). Finally, the information created in the notification email creation buffer is converted into an email addressed to the sender (step 173). The mail addressed to the sender will be described later with reference to FIG. This completes the sender-side duplicate information notification process.

Next, an example of a mailer screen (sender side and recipient side) and an example of a format of a mail addressed to a recipient including information on duplication of an original electronic mail and a destination address will be described. FIG. 7 shows a screen example 181 of the mailer on the sender side. The sender enters a title 183, a destination 185, and a text 191 on the outgoing mail creation screen 181. In this example, the title 183 is “about the schedule of the meeting”, and the transmission 185 is “group 1” and “group 2” specified in the broadcast transmission destination list (FIG. 7: 18).
7). The transmission destination 185 further includes a notification column 189 when the transmission destination is duplicated, and specifies “necessary” or “unnecessary”. The notification column 189 when the transmission destination is duplicated is provided for the broadcast transmission control unit 19 in FIG. 1 to determine whether or not to notify the recipient of the information on the duplication of the transmission address (FIG. 3: step 113). However, whether or not to notify the sender of information regarding the duplication of the destination address is determined in FIG.
May be provided for the determination by the broadcast transmission control unit 19 in FIG. 3 (Step 117 in FIG. 3), or may be provided for the broadcast transmission control unit 19 in FIG. 1 to determine whether to notify both. . Further, two notification columns 189 when the transmission destination is duplicated can be provided so that the user can specify only the recipient, the sender only, or both. If the sender does not specify whether notification is necessary when the destination is duplicated, the broadcast transmission control unit 19 is set in advance to determine whether notification is required. In the main text 191, "I will inform you of the schedule of the next meeting ... more".
When the send button 193 on the outgoing mail creation screen is pressed,
This mail is transmitted to the mail server 1.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the format of the electronic mail created in FIG. The header including the control information includes “destination: group 1, group 2”, “title: meeting schedule”, “duplication notification: required”, and other necessary header information. The meaning of this "duplicate notification: required"
This has the same meaning as the notification column 187 when the transmission destination is duplicated in FIG. It is also possible to provide two types of header information relating to this duplicate notification. That is, the header information is “duplicate notification to sender” and “duplicate notification to recipient”. In addition,
The mail text in FIG. 8 is the same as the text 191 in FIG.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the format of an electronic mail at the time when the process of step 149 in FIG. 5 is completed. FIG. 9 shows an e-mail to user01@host1.fujitsu.co.jp in the example of FIG. Therefore, the header including the control information includes “destination: user01@host1.fujitsu.co.jp”. Further, “Title: Meeting schedule” and “Group information: valid = group 1, broadcast = group 2” added in step 141 of FIG. 5 are included. “Valid” means valid group information, and “broadcast” means duplicate group information. The text is text 19 in FIG.
Same as 1. In addition, when complying with RFC822 which specifies the format of the header of the e-mail, the header can be extended with "X-". So, for example, "X-Duplicate:
It is also conceivable to create a field such as "valid = group1, broadcast = group2" as corresponding to "group information: valid = group1, broadcast = group2".

FIG. 10 is an example of a screen of a mailer on the receiver side, and shows a received mail list screen 201. Here, the type, number (No.),
The columns of reception date, sender, and title are provided. The “type” is a column for indicating whether or not the e-mail is a broadcasted e-mail, and in that case, whether or not information relating to duplication of the destination address is added. For example, in FIG. 10, ▲ indicates that the e-mail is transmitted by broadcasting, and information about duplication is added. Also, △ is an e-mail transmitted by broadcasting, but information on duplication is not added. ○ represents an e-mail sent to an individual. The display of such a type depends on whether or not the mailer on the receiving side can process the header of the e-mail, in particular, the “group information” in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is an example of a screen of a mailer on the receiver side, and shows a received mail display screen 203. This is an example of a screen when the first mail in FIG. 10 is opened. On this screen, "Title: Meeting schedule", "Received date: 05/10/1999", "Sender:
"Yamada" is as shown in FIG. 10, and the text on this screen is also as the text shown in the e-mail in FIG.
The destination group information column 205 includes a header of the e-mail in FIG. 9, particularly “Group information: valid = group 1, broadcast =
It is generated by processing “Group 2”. That is, “Group 1” in the destination group information column 205 is valid group information (“valid” part of the header information),
“Group 2 (duplicate deletion)” is duplicate group information (“broadcast” portion of header information). In order to separately provide the transmission destination group information column 205 during the display of the received mail, the mailer on the receiver side must be able to process the header of the e-mail, particularly the "group information" in FIG.

If it is known that the mailer on the receiving side cannot cope, the effective group information and the overlapping group information are added to the header in the processing of FIG. It is also conceivable to add information similar to that of the transmission destination group information column 205 in FIG.

FIG. 12 is an example of a screen in which an e-mail addressed to the sender, which is generated in step 173 of FIG. 6 and includes information on duplication of the destination address, is opened by the mailer of the sender. User01 @ hos as shown in Figure 4
t1.fujitsu.co.jp and user05@host1.fujitsu.co.jp were included in both groups 1 and 2, with group 1 being valid group information and group 2 being duplicate group information. Therefore, in the e-mail in Fig. 12, “[Duplicate destination] (sent to the group marked with“ ■ ”) user01@host1.fujitsu.co.jp ■ Group 1 □ Group 2 user05@host1.fujitsu.co .jp ■ Group 1 □ Group 2 ”.

The transmission of an electronic mail addressed to the sender as shown in FIG. 12 is performed irrespective of whether the mail server 1 transmits the original mail or not, unlike the prior art. The sender may process this email at any time. As shown in FIG. 12, the title is "mail destination overlap information (title: schedule of meetings)".
The sender can understand the purpose of this e-mail on the received mail list screen of the mailer. Therefore, if more detailed information is not required, the e-mail can be discarded without opening. Also, if necessary, it is possible to know not only that there is an overlap but also broadcast transmission group information. These points also differ from the prior art.

As a method of notifying the duplication of the destination address, a method other than the method described above can be adopted. In particular, although an example has been shown in which information relating to duplication of a transmission destination address is added to an e-mail addressed to a recipient, an e-mail can be separately transmitted. Further, the notification can be made using another communication means.

Also, in the example of FIG. 4, only the duplication between the mail addresses registered in the broadcast destination list has been described, but the duplication between the individually specified mail addresses and the duplication between the individually specified mail addresses will be described. There may be duplication between mail addresses registered in the broadcast destination list. The present invention is applicable to such a case. Although there is no broadcast transmission group information for an individually designated mail address, for example, an arbitrary name that is not used as a broadcast transmission destination list name may be given. For example, individual 1, individual 2. . . May be added.

The embodiment described above is an example, and various modifications are possible. In particular, how to divide the functional blocks in the block diagrams shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is merely an example, and one functional block can be divided into a plurality of functional blocks, or a plurality of functional blocks can be combined into one functional block. It is possible. 1 and 2 may be constituted by a combination of a program and a computer for realizing the functions of the functional blocks shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, or part or all may be implemented by a dedicated electronic circuit or the like. Is also possible.

[0035]

According to the present invention, in broadcast transmission of e-mail, duplicate transmission of e-mails having the same content, which is caused by duplicate designation of an e-mail address, is prevented. An apparatus and a program for notifying the mail sender or both of the information about the duplication of the electronic mail can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the inside of a broadcast transmission control unit 19 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing flow of a broadcast transmission control unit 19 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example for explaining processing of a broadcast transmission control unit 19; (1) shows the contents of groups 1 and 2 which are broadcast destination lists, (2) shows the processing results of the broadcast destination list expanding unit 33 and the destination information sorting unit 35, and (3) shows the destination The processing results of the information merging unit 37 are shown.

5 is a receiver-addressed duplication information notification processing unit 39 in FIG. 2;
It is a figure which shows the processing flow of.

FIG. 6 is a sender duplicate information notification processing unit 41 in FIG. 2;
It is a figure which shows the processing flow of.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission mail creation screen of a sender mailer.

FIG. 8 is an example of a mail format when sent from the user terminal on the sender side to the mail server 1.

FIG. 9 is a format example of a mail sent from the mail server 1 to the user terminal on the receiver side.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a received mail list display screen of a recipient mailer.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a received mail display screen of a recipient mailer.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen when a mail addressed to a sender including information on duplication of a destination address is displayed by a mailer on the sender side.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mail server 3, 5, 7, 9 User terminal 13 Broadcast transmission destination list storage unit 15 Mail transmission / reception processing unit 17 Mail reception unit 19 Broadcast transmission control unit 21 Mail distribution unit 31 Broadcast transmission destination reading unit 33 Broadcast Transmission destination list expansion unit 35 Transmission destination information sorting unit 37 Transmission destination information merging unit 39 Duplication information notification processing unit addressed to receiver 41 Duplication information notification processing unit addressed to sender 43 Transfer unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yutaka Tanabe 2-2-1 Honai, Yao-cho, Negashi-gun, Toyama F-term in Toyama Fujitsu Limited (Reference) 5B089 GA11 GB03 JA31 KA01 KA07 KC51 LA09 LA19 5K030 GA17 HA06 HB19 KA02 LD02 LD13

Claims (8)

[Claims] An e-mail distribution device for distributing an e-mail, wherein when a name of a broadcast destination list is specified as a destination mail address, the mail registered in the broadcast destination list is provided. Determining means for determining whether a destination mail address including an address is duplicated in one received e-mail; and when the determining means detects a duplicate, the receiving mail address is set to the duplicated destination mail address. Processing means for distributing only one e-mail and notifying the information about the duplication. 2. The e-mail distribution device according to claim 1, wherein said processing means adds information on the duplication to the received e-mail. 3. The electronic mail delivery device according to claim 2, wherein the information on the duplication is added to a header of the received electronic mail. 4. An electronic mail distribution device for distributing an electronic mail, wherein, when a broadcast destination list name is specified as a destination mail address, a mail registered in the broadcast destination list Determining means for determining whether a destination mail address including an address is duplicated in one received electronic mail; and when the determining means detects duplication, the received electronic mail is added to the duplicated destination mail address. Processing means for distributing only one mail and performing processing for notifying the transmission source of the received e-mail of the information about the duplication. 5. The electronic mail delivery device according to claim 1, wherein said processing means controls to notify the information on the duplication only when a notification is specified. 6. The e-mail delivery device according to claim 1, wherein the information on the duplication includes information on the duplicated destination e-mail address not used for distribution of the received e-mail. 7. A recording medium storing a program for controlling e-mail delivery, wherein the program is provided when a broadcast destination list name is specified as a destination mail address. If the destination mail addresses including the mail addresses registered in the destination list are duplicated in one received e-mail, only one received e-mail is delivered to the duplicate destination e-mail address, and A recording medium that causes a computer to perform a process of notifying information about the duplication. 8. A recording medium storing a program for controlling e-mail delivery, wherein the program is configured such that, when a broadcast destination list name is specified as a destination mail address, the broadcast When the destination mail addresses including the mail addresses registered in the destination list are duplicated in one received e-mail, the received e-mail is set to the duplicate destination e-mail address.
A process for distributing only one and notifying the source of the received e-mail of the information about the duplication to a computer.